The competition is to propose a green co-working space in Beirut
Co-working spaces offer affordable working spaces with all the related amenities for freelancers, young entrepreneurs and startups. These spaces could typically be customized for individuals or teams for work and meetings. Furthermore, these spaces could be rented out per day, week, or months. Services provided by the co-working spaces could be all or some of the following: receptionist, secretarial, office furniture, supplies and stationary, audio-visuals equipment, copying, scanning and printing, housekeeping. In brief co-working spaces provide the needed infrastructure to create a comfortable working space.
Specifically in Lebanon, an added challenge for a successful working space is to provide uninterrupted 24hours power supply, as well as uninterrupted internet, Wifi, 3G and 4G fast and reliable connection.
Entrants will interpret what they think is a co-working space and how it should operate, in particular with this suffix “co”. How interactive you think it should be, or how private? Furthermore, trying to reach continuous power supply through various renewables is also expected yet what Dar[e] will be expecting to see is how the entrants are providing the needed thermal comfort for the many users, throughout the year, in the hot and humid climate of Beirut. This needed thermal comfort will use minimum to no energy from non-renewables.
The competition is an open idea architecture competition, entrants are expected to work on the integrated passive design strategies based the orientation for sun, ventilation, and material choices. Energy calculations of and from active systems is Not required.
The proposal should fit within the various terms of Green, sustainable, low energy, zero energy or near zero energy buildings, bio-climatic Project. Depending on the source, these definitions will take at least one of the following four points into account:
- The Embedded energy of the construction materials
- The Energy consumed within the construction phase
- The Overall lifespan energy consumption or (running energy consumption)
- End of life or the energy needed for demolition, decommissioning or recycling
This competition is focused on these two points
- Providing maximum users’ comfort (thermal and visual), in this case entrepreneurs, start-ups and freelancers, while using minimum energy from non-renewable sources.
- Choosing materials that have low embedded carbon
The site
The proposed site is located in the Dbayeh coastal area less than 10km north of Beirut, Latitude 33,946041oN; Longitude 35,591898oE. The site is squeezed between what is referred to as Sea-road (that is actually the railway provision line) the corniche road and the pedestrian bridge crossing the highway.
The site dimensions are roughly 11m wide and 52m long with the pedestrians’ bridge in the middle, making a total area is 625sqm. The long side of the site has a 15o tilt on the north south axis, hence both long facades are 15o west and east oriented. The construction constraints that apply to the project are as follow:
- The proposal should fit within a box extruded from the site reaching a height of 25m
- The total usable area for the co-working spaces (and their required annex spaces) should be 3200sqm
- The proposal can go 2m below road level
- The end of the pedestrians’ bridge and the way to go down should be treated by the participants.
Deliverables:
Two A1 sheets + 1 A3 Sheet
Besides the architecture presentation, sheets should contain the following
- The clear and detailed passive design strategies (recommended to be shown in day/night and summer/winter sketches). One important note for the Beirut Summer weather is how would you deal with the excessive humidity.
- A short text explaining the architecture concept and the teams’ definition of co-working spaces, and how many such spaces are available within the overall area.
- A short text explaining concisely and clearly the passive design strategies.
Not part of the Jury process each team will submit one visual (A3) as the main image for their project to be used as the project cover page. This image can be the same one visual used within the main submission or it can be a new addition.
Important note: Participants are advised to be careful about the all-digital presentation, and the actual size of the file to be submitted. Rely on texts that are large enough to be clear without the need to zoom in. Similarly, for the technical drawings and their relative scale and details, these should be as clear as possible without the need to zoom in.
Dar[e] 